tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post2702098285544049274..comments2022-10-18T13:47:10.315+11:00Comments on MSO (Melbourne Shuffle Oldskool): Broadcast ArtGarry Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02906347758525272436noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-29803701125774094122014-09-01T16:01:09.760+10:002014-09-01T16:01:09.760+10:00Is this thread still alive? I have an old 1985 cas...Is this thread still alive? I have an old 1985 cassette of the Captain's, made at Toad Temple in New Zealand, called 'Full Moon Toadsongs', about 30 years ahead of its time. Given the amount of interest in electronic music these days, it deserves an airing.Tuonelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03204662879792041735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-25152204835727073182014-01-18T15:45:28.263+11:002014-01-18T15:45:28.263+11:00Hello everyone.
I barely remember Captain Rom, he...Hello everyone. <br />I barely remember Captain Rom, he lived in my garage with my parents when I was 5 years old. We lived in Fraser at the time this was 1991. My dad is a very friendly guy and he told me he met Rom at the Braddon markets or some such, selling VHS tapes of those fractal images he was into. Unbeknownst to my mum he offered up our garage for him to stay, my dad probably saw it as an opportunity to teach Rom about the Baha'i faith. Rom lived with us for about a year or six months maybe? Its hard to remember, I was really young. I have shadowy memories of his horde of computers, his wizard like appearance and American accent and I remember him showing me some of his videos. My mum didn't really want me or my brother spending time with him, she's a pretty conservative lady. I think he was also friends with my grandma (dad's mum) who was really into new age healing etc and formerly owned a gem stone shop in Hackett (she's dead now too). <br />Once I got a bit older I searched for Rom online but never really found anything. I thought he'd be exactly the kind of person to embrace the internet and media sharing possibilities but he was gone long before it really took off. He just seemed like such a character, even though he was such a fleeting character in my childhood, I just wasn't exposed to people like that, he was very memorable. I did a deep search recently and unearthed this. Gosh, I was shocked! Although I didn't know him, he was one of those people I thought about and speculated about all throughout my childhood, what a conclusion...! The details about the rats were especially morbid. I don't really know what to say except I really wanted to share my tenuous connection here. <br />Does anyone still have any of his tapes or videos? Barcelona Teaspoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04017100844492559067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-582696018145847872012-04-06T16:52:48.858+10:002012-04-06T16:52:48.858+10:00Interesting posts and nice to see people around th...Interesting posts and nice to see people around that remember Rom. I am surprised that no-one has mentioned his love of chess though. I should correct a few misconceptions here about his death. He did die in his government flat in Braddon (ACT) from an overdose in 1994. I do not believe it was suicide and the detectives that turned up at my door with some of Rom's possessions to assist with identification did not indicate suicide either. He had left all his gear at Toadworks Studios (the Ex Services Club, not RSL) in Gunning due to ongoing disagreements with the people that bought the place and his health deteriorated and depression got worse over time. <br />My girlfriend at the time(Tess) and I organised his cremation at Mitchell which was attended by a few friends and members of the Krishna community in Canberra. Adi Purusha Das offered to take Rom's ashes on his next trip to India and spread them on the Ganges. I will always be grateful for that. <br />I remember going to a party some time after his death with some of his native American friends in Mawson (Rom was Hopi) and we threw some of his favourite things into a bonfire to send to him in the afterlife. Sadly I have lost contact with those people over the years.<br />Rom was one of the most eccentric friends I have ever had. He is missed but not forgotten.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03031590763689469201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-32276428046816246372011-06-21T16:10:06.160+10:002011-06-21T16:10:06.160+10:00This is very strange i have never heard about vide...This is very strange i have never heard about video art this really unique and looking very beautiful.Daceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03576196323714598158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-49563941550103853112011-05-04T10:35:00.322+10:002011-05-04T10:35:00.322+10:00I was living in a squat in Braddon, Canberra, with...I was living in a squat in Braddon, Canberra, with a bunch of other teenagers when ROM bought the RSL club in Gunning. Apparently the storeroom of the RSL club was still full of alcohol when he bought it, and he brought round a couple of uteloads of (decade old) beer, etc. He kept the spirits for himself. I recall he had some trouble with local youths breaking into the place and stealing/vandalising his gear. He called his fractal-based visuals "toadscapes", and was forever going on about them, even at the most innapropriate times. That is disturbing news about his death. I remember when he commited suicide, but I had not heard that about the rats and video, etc.ailahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07157366146069633953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-27499341133450066372011-03-27T23:00:44.996+11:002011-03-27T23:00:44.996+11:00He told me his real name was Thrlama Nurio (spelli...He told me his real name was Thrlama Nurio (spelling?), "Rom" was short for Thlrama and "Captain" was because he (at some stage) had his pilot's license.<br /><br />When I knew him he was obsessed with cane toads. He called the RSL Club "Toadworks Studios" and was using it to create audio-visual art based on the Mandelbrot sets (fractals), which he thought looked like toads.<br /><br />He was a de-facto Hare Krishna. After his death the local temple had him cremated and took his ashes to be dispersed in the Ganges river in India. <br /><br />I hadn't seen him for maybe 6 months before his death. I was under the impression he had lost the RSL club in Gunning by then and was living (and took his life) in a government bedsit on Northbourne Avenue in Canberra, but I could be wrong as this conflicts with other posts here.Tobushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05529220083970625733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-73568116853122337842010-07-13T19:32:43.496+10:002010-07-13T19:32:43.496+10:00I remember Captain ROM: he introduced me to DMT.
...I remember Captain ROM: he introduced me to DMT. <br />Pleased that you've honored him with this blog and a little weird'd by the tale of his demise.<br />Your story of him 'fixing' your broadcast setup reminded me of receiving his 'help' at the Facility where I worked. LOL.<br /><br />Thanks for opening my eyes Captain.<br /><br />Damn shame you're not around: you flashed across my mind just now so I googled you. Alas, too late.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03727456121379393566noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-66534812295420738992008-02-14T19:35:00.000+11:002008-02-14T19:35:00.000+11:00We could of done well with the tech junk in Melb :...We could of done well with the tech junk in Melb :) Around that time, we were doing a lot of tech assemblages and installations, even tech jewellery etc, capacitor ear rings, circuit board badges etc. There was a warehouse that sold it for parts to techs and to artists, $10 for as much as you could carry in a cardboard box sort of thing.<BR/><BR/>I forgot about his little laugh too, it was an odd one, suited him of course :)Garry Shepherdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906347758525272436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-53837696011935569912008-02-13T20:07:00.000+11:002008-02-13T20:07:00.000+11:00The reason he had so much computer/video junk was ...The reason he had so much computer/video junk was that the auction place that he brought it from only sold it by the pallet full (usualy for a song), he often only wanted one item from a pallet lot but they wouldn't allow unwanted stuff to be left behind so he ended up stuck with a lot of junk that he couldn't work out how to get rid of.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-4336589741237028502008-02-13T15:09:00.000+11:002008-02-13T15:09:00.000+11:00The Captain had enough old computer/video junk (in...The Captain had enough old computer/video junk (including enough old PDP-10 stuff to recreate the main set of Time Tunnel) in the club to easily fill a semitrailer to the top, caused a waste disposal headache for the Gunning council at the time as I recall. <BR/>Now that I think about it the big project WAS a TV station that he was planning to build in the old club. <BR/>He had a number of Fairlight's laying around in various states of assembly, with boards hanging off them here and there, he was far from being the tidiest technician in the world as you found out with your transmitter.<BR/>As I recall his first name was Ron and he had an unusual surname which now escapes me, said guy in Canberra had an unusual name too, perhaps Enumeio?<BR/>After giving it more thought I think it was probably sometime in 1993 that he died, he killed himself by taking poison, arsenic (rat sack) I think, which perhaps fitted the overall theme of the video.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-83826201621632514942008-02-12T23:33:00.000+11:002008-02-12T23:33:00.000+11:00hehe I can relate to the computers :) I've got sta...hehe I can relate to the computers :) I've got stacks in my studio now, thrown out by business colleges in the area, dozens of them. I use the parts for my robot components, bearings, axles etc on drives.<BR/><BR/>That sounds like the community TV studio he was setting up for c31. I remember he borrowed our transmitter for a test broadcast, it came back in bits, he'd 'modified' it :) We literally opened the panel and all this stuff fell out - only a $25,000 Italian built TV transmitter :)))<BR/><BR/>He was wanting to set up a bunch of video production suites obviously in the club.<BR/><BR/>That was about the last I heard of himGarry Shepherdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906347758525272436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-61656302814540753712008-02-12T15:27:00.000+11:002008-02-12T15:27:00.000+11:00Anyone who met the Captain would find him hard to ...Anyone who met the Captain would find him hard to forget, with his Tolkenistic appearance and strange little laugh. He spent his last days buying pallet loads of old X government computer and video equipment at auctions in Canberra (which is how I came to know him) which he planed to use for some big project of his. At the time of his death he had most of the old club piled waist high with old computer and video equipment (an enormous amount). As I recall he killed himself over a squabble with some guy in Canberra who he was err.. involved with and who had also been bankrolling said big project.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-44348785219754515882008-02-12T12:58:00.000+11:002008-02-12T12:58:00.000+11:00my god... Condolence to family and friends of Capt...my god... Condolence to family and friends of Capt Rom.<BR/><BR/>I remember hearing vague rumors years back then but wasn't sure. Thanks for the info.<BR/><BR/>I can believe the umatics. We all had a fierce passion for video then, myself included.<BR/><BR/>I would like to dedicate this post to the memory of Capt Rom, you won't be forgotten old buddy.Garry Shepherdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906347758525272436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4750099299009228761.post-83292550835051999852008-02-12T04:23:00.000+11:002008-02-12T04:23:00.000+11:00FYI - Captain Rom committed suicide around 1994 in...FYI - Captain Rom committed suicide around 1994 in the disused Gunning (NSW) RSL club which he owned and lived in at the time. He went out in a big way, videoed the event with a cascading bank of Umatics giving several days of continuous recording, the place was infested with rats and by the time he was found the rats had eaten quite a lot of him (as he intended), all of which was captured on video, I kid you not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com